How To Survive in the Wild

If you ever find yourself stranded in the wild,certain things can mean the difference between life and death, and a piece of string can do plenty of good. These instructions will help in getting out of danger.

Step 1  

Build a shelter by tying together reasonably straight branches (bamboo works best) with rope. Form a angular shape with it. Use as many branches as possible for added stability and protection against the wind and weather.  

• If you are in a desert environment, try to build an underground shade shelter to avoid prolonged sun exposure (obviously only for hot climates) so you can travel more comfortably in cooler temperatures (avoid sweating). Dig a wide trench and lay logs and branches (if available) over the opening, and cover with anything you can find. Try to point the opening either North or South, as the other two directions will point the sun into your opening.
• A third type of shelter is a lean-to; for this you need something solid like a log or large rock. Lay long-ish branches against it thickly, and criss-cross smaller branches and shrubbery on top to provide sufficient insulation. The smaller your shelter is, the better it will insulate you. Shelters in low, dense shrubbery is often home to many insects.
• A fourth type of shelter is the bog-bed; if your environment is perpetually damp or mushy, use branches laid and criss-crossed on top of one another to create a solid and dry foundation for a lean-to or open bed pad. Raise above ground level as much as possible.

Step 2  

Quickly think about all possible options and be decisive about what the best survival course of action is. For example, if you think the best survival course of action is to seek out help and civilization, don't wait 4 or 5 days before you come to this conclusion. Take action on the 1st or 2nd day if possible while you still have strength and endurance working for you.

Step 3  

' Use the lenses of a magnifying glass or even your glasses to start a fire . Use dry wood and sticks to start your fire. Fire is started using three kinds of wood: tinder, kindling, and fuel. Tinder is any kind of flammable wood shaving; usually light and wispy. Kindling is used for coaxing the flame into larger form, and fuel is for fuel.  

• You can take two pieces of dry wood, sharpen one of them and use it to drill into the other piece. Place any highly flammable objects you can find next to the drill bit. The moment the flammable object catches a spark, use a rock to swiftly tip the shouldering object onto a nest of leaves/ twigs/dry bark.

Step 4  

Carve a knife for hunting. Get an ordinary block of wood and hit with a blunt rock repeatedly until the wood sharpens. Sharpen like any other knife, but in this case, use the rock as your sharpener. You could also take a rock and break off some of the edges and then use another rock and some water like a wetstone and sharpen. In an ideal situation, Obsidian stone (black, translucent lava rock) would be used for its infamous sharpness.

Step 5  

Set a trap if you can't go out to hunt. Arrange a few sticks in somewhat half a tee pee. Use 2 more sticks to hold up the "tee pee", similar to your shelter. Place an item of your choice you think an animal will come after. If you're lucky, the animal will be trapped.  

• Use pitfall traps for larger prey. Dig a hole in the ground about 2-3m deep and 1-2m across (depends on the prey size). Take 2 thin branches and place them criss-crossed across the hole. Cover it with leaves and put something the animals like to eat. You can also put a few wooden spikes sharpened by your knife at the bottom. Don't forget to build a ladder or you might not be able to climb out of the hole. Always remember to cut it up into smaller pieces before moving it out of the hole. The last thing you want to do is to injure yourself. Set as many traps as you can.
• Go after fish first if you go hunting. When you spot one, don't make a sudden move. The vibrations will scare them off. Water bends light, and makes objects appear further back than they really are- so compensate for this and aim just in front of your target. Practice makes perfect.
• Streams are full of food if you cannot catch fish there are usually fresh water mussels
• If you fail at catching fish, try to find some plants to eat; dandelions(yellow flowers or big white thing, eat the leaves), sour grass(has a yellow flower at the top and looks like grass, only in a cylinder shape, has no leaves, eat the cylinderish grass part), just NEVER eat white berries. It may be tempting to eat regular grass, but do not.

Step 6  

Create a smoke signal. Repeat the fire step, this time using live branches.

Tips

• Remember you are only lost if you cant remember were you came from.
• "You are only as sharp as your knife." Always have a sharp knife, preferably a multi blade tool or other durable knife. You never know when you might need it.
• A fish/yabby trap can be created with a sock/stocking and bottle. Cut the toe out of the sock/stocking and the top of the bottle. place the sock inside the bottle and secure the sock to the top of the bottle. Then push a small piece of meat through the hole in the sock and and place the bottle into the water.
• When you eat an unknown fruit, if it is bitter, it is probably poisonous, if it is sweet it is probably good to eat. However, this does not always apply.So avoid eating unknown fruits.
• Here is a good checklist against food poisoning: Rub the food on your arm and wait for 5-10 minutes. If there is a rash don't eat it. If there isn't, put it against your lips. Wait for 5-10 minutes. If there is a rash or discomfort don't eat it. If there isn't, put it on your tongue. Wait for 5-10 minutes. If there is discomfort don't eat it. If there is no discomfort, take a small piece and swallow it. Wait for 3-5 hours. If there is discomfort, don't eat it. If there isn't, the food is safe to eat. -Taken from Man VS Wild.
• In cold or freezing conditions, the worst thing you can do is let yourself get sweaty.Every hour or so take of your outer clothes for a maximum of one minute.
• Using a standard 12-hour watch, such as a wristwatch, one's approximate bearings can be found as follows:
  
  1. Hold the watch with 12 o'clock pointing towards your left.
  2. Rotate into position so that the hour hand is pointing towards the Sun.
  3. The point halfway between the hour hand and 12 o'clock points towards the south. (During daylight saving time, the same method can be employed substituting 11 o'clock for noon.)
• If in the autumn and there a lot of leaves on the ground, gather up lots and lots of leaves and put them in a pile - the more leaves, the better. This big pile of leaves can be your bed and blanket to stay warm. Make sure you have a thick layer of leaves below you to prevent your body heat from being absorbed by the ground. Use a thick layer above you as a make-shift blanket. Always watch for snakes!
• When you break wood,do it on a tree to prevent injury.
• Wipe a little mud over your skin to protect against mosquitoes.
• If you catch lean food eat as much of the animal as possible, except the entrails. Certain wild animals have extremely low levels of body fat, which may lead to death by rabbit starvation. 
• Boil water by placing heated rocks in it. This is done when a water container cannot be held directly over a fire.
• Heat rocks over fire and place them around the body as heating packs while sleeping or resting.
• Use an emptied coconut shell filled with coconut fibers to carry a smoldering coal. This prevents the need to light another fire from scratch.
• Use cow dung to keep a fire smoldering while away. This prevents the need to light another fire from scratch.
• Use the elastic strap from a pair of boxers as a slingshot to fire a fishing spear.
• The Five "W's" of Survival:
  
  • Weather: Temperature of the area, know what kind of shelter you need.
  • Wood: How much wood is around for both fire and shelter?
  • Wigglies: spiders, scorpions, snakes, anything that can bite you or poison you.
  • Widowmakers: rocks, trees, large animals, anything that can fall on you or attack you.
  • Water: Where will you get water, and how will you obtain it?
• Use large rock pieces and twigs to setup trap for small animals by placing an edible bait to the supporting twig.
• To create smoke signal, burn damp wood chips over fire. Or use matches..
• If all else fails, follow a river or stream. Use the sun to determine your location. If the sun always sets in the west, use that to decide which path to follow.
• Try to find a good camp near out of the wind and near wood and fresh water
• Look for flint to start a fire#You can eat common plants like dandelions,dog tooth violets and hickory nuts
• Try to save as much food as you can. if you cant eat it smoke and preserve it by using a hard wood like hickory
• Try to make a permanent home (try to conserve food and make choices as if you were going to continue to live there for years).
• Always explore the area but make sure you dont get lost.
• Make a knife by taking flint and carefully chip at it until it gets sharp, do not run finger along it check by running it across soil
• Be resourceful. Even a plastic bottle can be used to store water for further use.
• If you find water but it is filled with twigs and leaves, stretch a sock or similar substance over the top of a wide topped bottle of a mug and poor your water over that, this will catch all the leaves and twigs. Next boil the water to kill off germs. You can even boil this in a plastic bottle by filling the bottle to the brim with your water and replacing the cap.
• Thirst is not a reliable symptom of dehydration; you have already lost 2% of water by the time you crave fluids. Urine can be used over again 1-2 times if you are in desperate circumstances.

Warnings

• When using rocks around your fire, make sure they are dry and have not been anywhere near a riverbed. Wet rocks can explode.

Things You'll Need

• Survival kit
  Plastic bottleRopeWhistleMatchesMedium-large rubbish/garbage bagTapePencil stub and very small note bookBrightly coloured clothStock cubeKnifeMagnesium block and striker (to make a fire in all weather conditions)Tinder